NANA YAMFUAH REMAINS COMMITTED DESPITE CHALLENGES (PAGE 17)

STORY: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

In spite of the challenges, Mrs Nana Yamfoah Amua-Sekyi, the Western Regional Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), remains committed to her work.
The fact that some people walk to her office and enquire of her boss, thinking that the one in charge of affairs at the organisation is a man and not a woman, does not deter her from performing her duties.
Asked how she feels about that attitude, she said it was normal as some people expected to see a man directing affairs at the regional office, “but work must go on and I have a big heart to listen to people and work as a professional”.
Appointed as the Western and Central Regional Director of the commission in 1997, she said she did not accept failure as a normal way of life and played the role of a mother in the lives of many people who expected her to offer immediate solutions to their socio-economic problems.
“I take inspiration from God when I have to take decisions to resolve human rights issues and I do so tactfully to justify the hope and confidence reposed in the commission,” she said.
She is guided by the mission statement of the commission to enhance the scale of good governance, democracy, integrity, peace and social development by promoting, protecting and enforcing fundamental human rights and freedoms and administrative justice for all persons in Ghana.
Working in conjunction with district officers, other sectional heads and members and staff of the commission, her duties entail broadly investigating complaints concerning the violation of fundamental human rights, injustice, corruption, abuse of power and unfair treatment of any person by a serving public officer.
Her office also investigates corruption and misappropriation of public money by officials, and practices and actions by persons, private enterprises and other institutions that violate fundamental constitutional rights and freedoms.
She said her office received cases from aggrieved persons from the two regions and also visited prisons to assess conditions there. Additionally, they go on field trips to educate market women, schoolchildren and fishermen on their human rights and freedoms to create human rights awareness and undertake further education through publications, lectures and symposia.
Mrs Amua-Sekyi is a product of Achimota School, from where she proceeded to the University of Ghana and the Ghana Law School. She is a member of Ghana Bar Association (GBA).
Mrs Amua-Sekyi, who is the last of the three girls of her parents, said, “We lost our father when I was still in school but our mother served as a strong pillar behind us, educated us and constantly reminded us of our capabilities and told us the truth about life.”
“I try as much as I could to ensure that I help where possible and I am always careful not to say things that would discourage the people who come to the office with problems, since they look up to us for the restoration of hope,” she stressed.